


Like the young hours

by Estirose



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 14:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12192006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Katida makes her first visit to her friend Cindro's lair.





	Like the young hours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morbane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/gifts).



> Written for Morbane in the 2017 Fandom Giftbox challenge.

Katida stared at her friend Cindro, who flapped a wing at her lazily, inviting her to come into his lair. It was a rare honor, she knew, even for people who had known a dragon for decades to be invited into a dragon's lair, and she bowed at the honor.

There was a smile on his face, she knew, because she'd spent her life around him and he her, and had deigned to accompany her on more than one of her adventures. The fact that a dragon could shapechange wasn't something commonly known to the people, but he'd told her. Maybe because he loved her, maybe because he knew that she could keep a secret. Had they been the same species, she thought, they might have married, but that was not in the cards.

But Cindro - Svedcindromerkredo, but that formal name seemed far too formal now - was a dragon, and she a human.

She stepped inside, making slow steady steps towards him. It was the same careful walk anyone would make towards one of the great ones because she wanted to honor him in the place where he lived. When she judged she'd walked far enough to be polite but not far enough to be dangerous, she stopped.

"Took you long enough," Cindro said, but there was a laugh in there, and only mild reprimand.

"I at least have manners when visiting someone's home for the first time," she retorted, but she made sure that her tone was light so that he wouldn't take offense.

"I only did that once." He stretched. "Ah, I miss those times. But duty must be tended to, don't you agree?"

"Yes." It was the main reason that Cindro had left their party. Cindro was now old enough to do the duty all good dragons had. Find a mate as well, eventually, probably long after Katida was dead. He would live for much longer than her. "Are you being pressured to find a mate?" she asked.

"Yes." He said. "I'll look for one, eventually. My sister Reika promises that she'll help me." He rolled his eyes. 

"Teoreikaapogisinal? Really?" she asked. It felt like she was visiting a friend in his home, not a dragon in his lair.

"She'd thud you with her wing if you called her that! No need to be formal." His form shimmered, became smaller, became human. "You are practically a part of our family, after all."

Katida had to wonder how many people he'd say that to in his lifetime. Probably a lot - he was a kind dragon, after all.

He took her hands in his, though she was aware that they were transformed claws. "Go and see her," he said. "We both loved adventuring with you. I know she regrets having to go so far away, btt that was where she was needed."

"I will, she promised.

Cindro leaned down and kissed her, catching her by surprise. "And then hurry back. The town needs you, too."

"I know," she said, only managing that much after being positively stunned by his action. She wondered if he really was in love with her, and reminded herself that she was but a mayfly by his standards.

"Travel safe," he said. It wasn't a dismissal. That wasn't how Cindro worked. It was just a friend's words to another friend.

She just nodded and shouldered her pack. Reika's lair was a long trip, a very long trip, and to honor that wish she had to be prepared. Reika and Cindro would understand.

"Sing for me as I go?" she asked.

"I will do that." There was a pause in his words, as if he'd meant to say something else, but she didn't even want to think about what it could be.

As she left, she heard him singing her favorite song in his pleasant baritone. She smiled even more as she stepped out of his cave, one more step towards her home and her promise.


End file.
